KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Dan Campbell didn’t mince words or waste any time when discussing Brian Branch’s postgame swing and fight in Kansas City.

After the final whistle blew in the team’s 30-17 loss to the Chiefs, the Detroit Lions safety was seen striking receiver JuJu Smith-Schuster. It came after the Lions safety ignored a handshake from Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes, as Smith-Schuster extended his hand to Branch.

Branch then struck Smith-Schuster in the helmet, knocking the receiver to the ground, and chaos ensued. The receiver and Chiefs running back Isaac Pacheco wrestled Branch to the ground, and both teams had to be separated to end an ugly night.

The Lions coach used his opening statement after the team dropped to 4-2 on Branch’s actions.

“I love Brian Branch. But what he did was inexcusable,” Campbell said. “It’s not going to be accepted here. It’s not what we do. It’s not what we’re about. I apologize to coach (Andy) Reid and the Chiefs and Schuster. That’s not OK. That’s not what we do here, and it’s not going to be OK. He knows it. Our team knows it. That’s not what we do.”

Branch spoke with reporters after the loss, calling it a childish mistake. But the third-year defender said he felt like the Chiefs were trying to “bully” him after plays before going back to saying, “I should have never did it.”

He is sure to face some type of discipline from the league for his actions. He’s no stranger to hefty fines for big hits, but this postgame scuffle is a new one for the hard-hitting defender.

“In-between the play and refs don’t catch it, they were trying to bully me out there,” Branch said. ”I got blocked in the back illegally, and it was in front of the ref. But the ref didn’t do anything — just stuff like that. I could have got hurt off of that. But it’s still — I still should have not done that.”

Branch said it was Smith-Schuster who hit him in the back. The play Branch mentions happened with a little more than 3 minutes left in the game. He gets decked from behind, trades some words with Smith-Schuster, and carries on. There was no penalty thrown on the play, and it didn’t seem like that heated of a moment in real time or in hindsight.

“I know he’s a better player than that, a better person,” Smith-Schuster said after the game. “He’ll learn from his mistakes.”

“He’s a great player, right? He’s huge for the team. I think after the game, I expect to shake his hand and say, ‘Good game,’ and move Pat’s way. But he threw a punch, and at the end of the day, it’s a team sport, right? We came out here. We did our job. We won. And that’s all that matters.”

Branch added there was a lot of stuff when asked if the Chiefs were talking trash near the end of the game. But he went back to saying it should have never happened, again apologizing for his actions.

“I should have shown it between the whistle. Not after the game,” Branch said. “And I apologize for that.”

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